The Cemetery Trustees met at 9:00 a.m. at the Historical Society building.
Ruth Hammen, Fred Shaw and Brenda Boswak were in attendance.
OLD BUSINESS
Joseph Beachy, Extol Tree Care, LLC removed many dead trees at/in the True Cemetery on March 31, 2025. This project dramatically changed the roadside view of the cemetery to a beautiful, well-cared-for appearance. Once again, we are very pleased with Joseph’s work. We submitted his invoice for deposit payment $2,400 to the Selectmen, to be paid from Cemetery Capital Reserve Fund. This payment was approved and sent to Joseph Beachy.
Brenda attended the March 4, 2025, Selectmen’s meeting with Department Heads. The tree debris in Burying Yard has been cleaned up and branches trimmed off that tree that were hanging over the cemetery. The Selectmen, currently, are not pursuing the process of determining the ownership of the tree at the wall any further. T
he Cemetery Trustees met with Dave Colbert at Page Cemetery to discuss clarifying the boundaries of this cemetery. Dave is a surrounding abutter to the cemetery. We have a boundary description for the cemetery that we feel confident is accurate. Dave will review his land survey to look for a notation of the cemetery and/or boundary measurements. The Chichester tax map does NOT show the cemetery location and approximate boundary measurements. We decided on a 10’x10’ perimeter measurement for a granite post and black chain fence around the burial area. Don Cotnoir, NH Monuments gave an estimate of $3000+/-.
We have removed the Remembrance Wreaths from the cemeteries. The ground is still too wet to allow vehicles inside of Leavitt Cemetery and Pineground Cemetery. Our goal is to open the gates before Easter, April 20, 2025. Ruthie and Brenda will inspect the American flags we have for placement at Memorial Day and will purchase as needed.
Garry Kalajian, Ararat Forget, blacksmith, met with us to share his updated design proposal for iron gates at Knowlton-Edgerly Cemetery. The Cemetery Trustees agreed, after more thought and discussion, to request Garry to redesign his gate design proposal based on a design sample that we emailed to him, more in keeping with the other two gates that he already created for us. He brought us a beautiful design proposal that we are very pleased with. He will begin work on this project as soon as he is paid his deposit request.
The price for four granite cornerstones purchased from NH Monuments will be $355 this season.
Our $7,0000 budget request for the 2025 season was approved at town meeting #2 on April 5, 2025.
NEW BUSINESS Fred will begin the project of uploading the Leavitt Cemetery lot map, of the older section of the cemetery, to googledrive.
We created a letter for the Selectmen with our request for Cemetery Trustee Alternates to be appointed.
We discussed the possibility of grinding the stumps left at True Cemetery. Brenda will get two estimates for this project.
Ruthie has been working with people interested in purchasing ‘Right to Inter’.
We agreed to have a second key made for the Leavitt Cemetery gate padlock.
Inside Leavitt Cemetery an enormous tree has broken off and fallen, damaging the ground and some gravestones on the Berkeley lot. Brenda has contacted Stephanie Berkely to notify her of the damage. Stephanie will contact us once she has inspected the gravestone. The tree is located inside the cemetery and Dave Colbert has volunteered to clean up and remove the large amount of debris, when the ground dries out to allow for equipment inside the cemetery.
Brenda has created a list of gravestones to be repaired and cleaned this season. She will focus on cleaning children’s gravestones and will contact Marion Jones who has volunteered to help.
We have requested that the Selectmen pay the remaining balance of $2,400 to Extol Tree Care, LLC, from Cemetery Capital Reserve Fund. We have not had confirmation for that request and/or that payment has been sent.
Ruthie and Brenda are planning on attending the NH Cemetery Association seminar tomorrow April 8, 2025, at Derryfield Country Club in Manchester.
Brenda will contact Heather Taluba, to discuss her offer for the Boy Scouts Troop to volunteer with us to place American flags at veterans’ gravesites for Memorial Day.
Batchelder Cemetery gate needs repair. Garry Kalajian has assessed that the gate possibly is not original to the cemetery, and the current black iron post that the gate is attached to was placed there to fill the gap between gate and cemetery wall. He has agreed to do the repair after a granite post if obtained to attach the gate to. Brenda will contact Don Cotnoir about the possibility of Don providing a granite post for Batchelder Cemetery entrance. Brenda will also provide Don with the list of needed gravestone repairs/cleaning for this season.
The Cemetery Trustees discussed the need to review and update as necessary the number of graves and burials in each cemetery, to calculate the proper mowing cost per grave.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Brenda Boswak, Cemetery Trustee, Secretary